Browse "Writers & Academics"

Claude Gingras. Critic, author, b Sherbrooke, Que, 1 Jul 1931. He began his career as a journalist in 1952 with the Sherbrooke daily newspaper La Tribune.

Claude-Henri Grignon, OC, journalist, critic, novelist, author of radio and TV serials (born 8 July 1894 in Sainte-Adèle, QC; died 3 April 1976 in Sainte-Adèle).

Dany Laferrière, né Windson Kléber, novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (born 13 April 1953 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti).

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, geneticist, broadcaster, environmental activist (born 24 March 1936 in Vancouver, BC). A Canadian of Japanese parentage, Suzuki was interned with his family during the Second World War and later became one of Canada’s most popular scientists and media personalities. He is known for his career as a broadcaster (including the CBC TV series The Nature of Things) as well as his work as an environmental activist.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on October 4, 2004. Partner content is not updated.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on November 5, 2007. Partner content is not updated.

His first poem, "Rêve fantasque," had been published in Le Samedi on 13 June 1896, under the pseudonym of Émile Kovar. Other poems appeared in Le Monde illustré, Alliance nationale and Le Petit Messager du Très-Saint-Sacrement.

Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté, journalist, writer and librarian (born 31 January 1871 in Montréal, QC; died 4 May 1949 in Montréal, QC). A poet and playwright, Éva Circé-Côté was the city of Montréal’s first librarian as well as the curator of the prestigious Philéas Gagnon collection. Throughout her career as a journalist, she wrote over 1,800 pieces for about a dozen newspapers under several pseudonyms. A progressive, secular free thinker, she fought for compulsory education and the status of women.

Frère Marie-Victorin (born Conrad Kirouac), member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, botanist, teacher (born 3 April 1885 in Kingsey Falls, QC; died 15 July 1944 in St-Hyacinthe, QC). A self-taught botanist, Frère Marie-Victorin was the first chair of botany at Université de Montréal, founder of the Institut de Botanique and the Montréal Botanical Garden, and author of Flore laurentienne (1935). He also co-founded the Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences, the Société canadienne d'histoire naturelle, and the Cercles des jeunes naturalistes, and actively promoted science in popular as well as academic publications. A French Canadian nationalist, Marie-Victorin believed that knowledge of Québec’s natural world would inspire pride in French Canadians and enable them to take possession of their land.

Gaston Miron, poet, publisher (born 8 January 1928 at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC; died 14 December 1996 in Montréal, QC). An Officer of the National Order of Québec and a Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of France’s highest honours.

Georges-Hébert Germain, author, scriptwriter, critic, columnist (born 20 August 1944 in Les Écureuils, Portneuf County, Québec; died 13 November 2015 in Montréal).

Germaine Guèvremont, née Marianne-Germaine Grignon, writer (born 16 April 1893 in Saint-Jérôme, QC; died 21 August 1968 in Montréal, QC).

Gil Courtemanche, journalist, columnist, writer (born 18 August 1943 at Montréal, Québec; died 19 August 2011 at Montréal). From the beginning of his journalistic career in 1962, Courtemanche took an interest in public affairs and international issues.

Gilles Vigneault.

Vigneault always touches his audiences with the sheer force of poetry, sincerity and youth emanating from his work. His rousing song MON PAYS (1964) sealed his popularity at home and abroad, and for many Québécois it has become an anthem.

Tit-Coq, created in 1948, grew out of Fridolin. The drama of the bastard who did not want to leave bastards behind him, the unemployed conscript, the soldier sent to England who never really came home, contrasted in the play with vivid, moving tableaux of traditional family life.

Guy Frégault, historian (b at Montréal 16 June 1918; d at Québec C 13 Dec 1977). Frégault pursued classical studies at Saint-Laurent and Jean-de-Brébeuf colleges in Montréal. He then enrolled in Université de Montréal and eventually completed his PhD in history at Loyola University, Chicago in 1949.

Mary Helen Creighton, CM, song collector, folklorist, writer (born 5 September 1899 in Dartmouth, NS; died 12 December 1989 in Halifax, NS). A pioneering collector of Maritime folk music and folklore, Helen Creighton helped define Maritime culture.

(Mary) Helen Creighton.